No algorithms. No content filters. No A.I. — Honest and insightful analysis from Richmond, VA.
A good rule of thumb if you find yourself in court is never get smart or testy with the judge and remember they know more law than you and they also hold and pound the gavel. Which is why the city finds itself in a pickle going up against the seven judges in the John Marshall Courts building downtown who are threatening legal action if long promised but neglected improvements are not made forthwith. This should be a warning to Mayor Avula that if a plan to fund the improvements is not found relatively soon, then not only is a lawsuit by the judges likely, but it will have a clear precedent to base their argument that was victorious in a similar lawsuit filed in — Richmond, Virginia. (Don't tell me you didn’t see that coming).
The judges in the courthouse sent a letter to Mayor Avula in late February:
“This court has demonstrated a patience that cannot and will not continue indefinitely,” they wrote in their Feb. 27 missive to Mayor Danny Avula and all nine members of City Council. “If a locality fails to take action, the court has an obligation to take action.”
The judges specifically refer to mandamus, which is a petition in which a party requests that a judge compel a public official or body to meet certain obligations, according to Samuel Parker in the Times-Dispatch.
At the City Council Public Safety meeting last week, Chief Judge Jacqueline McClenney said, “We have an obligation to ensure the safety and security of the public and employees, and we have many safety related infrastructure challenges” and noted that this issue has been unresolved across multiple mayoral administrations.
Interim Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Sabrina Joy-Hogg said that plan was estimated to cost $350 million to implement, and she said the city simply cannot afford that. She said conversations are still ongoing to figure out ways to get the cost estimate down.
Requests for upgrades and improvements to the building that opened in 1975 go back to 1994. A request was reissued in 2018 after a Department of Homeland Security assessment found “numerous construction deficiencies” in courthouse security. In 2019, a flood was caused by “degrading sewer pipes ... interrupted court operations and damaged critical records,” according to the letter, but nothing was done in the wake of
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